Wolwedans Dune Camp — Hotel in Hardap

We are staying in Wolwedans Dune Camp four nights. As stated in the Wolwedans Dune Camp's description on their homepage: ”Positioned on the edge of a 250-metre high dune, Dune Camp has the most extraordinary views across the Namibrand [Nature] reserve. The main areas are spread out across a series of interlocking decks ensuring that the lounge, dining area and tea room all enjoy views across the endless dune landscape to the mountains beyond." ||Dune Camp is part of the exclusive Wolwerdans Collection of Camps. Or as they also write "Wolwedans is more than a collection of camps. It is a collection of dreams. In this land of blue skies and endless plains you will find beauty to feed your soul, tranquility to clear the mind, and space for your imagination to fly. You may feel completely overwhelmed at first, but then quickly settle into a landscape and immersive experience which is ‘simply out of this world"||There is some truth in that statement; the location on top of the red dunes with a view of the plain and mountains in the distance is absolutely enchanting. In all directions we see spectacular scenery! However, it comes at a price (8200 NAD per person per day). E.g. some of the guests choose to arrive by private plane at the local airstrip. Others opt for butler and own staff.||We stay in the "tented room". The generous tented room is built on wooden platforms raised off the ground. It´s comfortable and spacious, with a kingsize bed as well as full indoor and outdoor bathrooms. There is no coffee station, but a thermos is provided every night. ||Outside, we have a generous deck which allows for plenty of lounging around, but unfortunately, there is not a lot of privacy. You can easily watch your neighbours - and the other way around (!) Not perfect design and perhaps the most important minus regarding this camp.| |On the very positive side, you have a “Wolwedans Chiller”, which is a water-filled silo to cool off during hot summer months. We enjoyed this feature very much.||Also, you have full board and activities included in the rate, e.g.: Morning and evening scenic drives, Wolwedans desert sundowners, "Heart and Home village tour" (visit to the Wolwedans Village), full day scenic safari, bushman walk, and E-biking.||We opt for the visit to the Wolwedans Village, where the owner Stephan explained the whole philosophy behind Wolwedans. Very impressive work and recommended tour. We also did the desert sundowner and a very fast bushman walk. However, most of the time, we just enjoyed the most extraordinary views across the Namibrand Nature reserve, from the main buildings and from our own wooden platform surrounding the tent.||very night, we had nice (but quality wise not very extraordinary) dinners on the wooden main decks overlooking the desert and starry sky! Also, a overlooking a nearby water whole. Before dinner, always sunset + G&T around the fire together with other guests.||On the full day excursion, we went to the North-eastern corner of the nature reserve with our pleasant and knowledgably guide Jacks. We had a scenic drive over the vast plains to a quiver tree forest at the foot of Mt Nubib Berge, actually this Quiver tree forest was much more impressive than the famous one near Keetmanshoop which we visited several years earlier (in 2009). ||In conclusion, Wolwedans was a pleasant acquaintance, and we would like to come back once more. However, given the high-end price tag, Wolwedans staff need to pay more attention to details; not the number of gadgets or fancy facilities, but e.g., make sure; tents/rooms are in perfect shape every day with clean towels (change dirty on the floor), full refrigerator, and hot warm water every morning (e.g., outside the tent) rather than the lukewarm water from the night before. It is also a annoyance that you are not properly shielded from other guests on the private terrace in front of your tent. ||Also, the service was always friendly, but certainly not always of the same high quality (some inexperienced staff).||PRO's|- Fantastic and completely unique location in the desert|- Total relaxation and tranquility|- Focus on employee well-being and training in Wolwedans Village|- Focus on local raw materials and a sustainable strategy||CON's|- Tents not properly shielded from neighbours, who have free access to watch each other on the wooden sundeck|- A little too little attention to detail (read above) - given the high price tag|- Some variations in the quality of service provided by staff - given the high price tag| |But bottom-line, we would love to come back...

Wolwedans has several tented camps for guests on their enormous preserve featuring miles of unobstructed views of red sands, grassland, hills and savanna, all with abundant wildlife. During our stay in Namibia we visited many "tented camps", all of which featured more in the way of amenities than I would have expected for something with "tented" in the name. Sure, they are canvas and unheated but the decor is one of a luxury hotel.

At this property, which doubles as a hospitality training center, we found the service to be excellent on all levels. The accommodations were decentralized, however, and required enormous amounts of staff for such few guests. There was probably a 10:1 staff to guest ratio when we were there. One building, miles away, handles all the meals, it seemed. The same building also serves as the parking for everyone, meaning you are unable to drop your own vehicle at your camp and must await a ride to come and go from anywhere making it impracticle to visit surrounding areas such as Soussvlei. One complaint would be that it seemed unnecessary to have to walk across loose sand and grasses just to get to each room, when a boardwalk would have seemed appropriate.

Keep in mind when reading this, Wolwedans charges some $1000US dollars per night at a minimum. Far more than we paid for any similarly equipped tented camp during our stay. For this price things were pretty up and down. Sure, it's a post-covid time now but the shower head didn't work in my room and shampoo was missing. These are basics. We found the common areas to be nicely equipped, however, and quite beautiful.

Despite some of the normal perks like flights/pilot missing, they did offer scenic drives around the property and lovely picnics. The guides seem to be overly regulated, however, and in the most bizarre of ways. For example, we came back after sunset photography every night but they weren't allowed to drive with their lights on. Why, nobody knows, but whatever the reason was it looked quite ridiculous and driving 4x4 trails with no headlights was nerve wracking to say the least. We also had to drive backwards for considerable periods on account of them not being allowed to turn around anywhere but designated spots.

Overall I'd give the property an average score. High marks for the friendly staff but it sure seemed like an unusual way to manage a place. The rooms, also, were not the best we encountered during our travels and they were 2-3 times the cost of any of the others. The landscape here and greater property was amazing and we are glad for their efforts in its...

This has now been renamed the Wolvedans Desert Lodge. We stayed 3 nights from Aug 25 to Aug 27, 2025.|The Wolvedans Desert lodge is at a beautiful location. They use a lot of sustainability measures, including solar power generation. However they are ill equipped to handle colder temperatures. They are a dark sky location. I was told the best time to view clear dark skies is in May when it is very cold. The rooms have no heating so it is impossible for guests to be comfortable in cold weather.||We visited in August ,and unfortunately had thundershowers and hail resulting in very cold weather.  The staff were completely ill equipped to handle this.  The rooms were very cold and uninhabitable without heating.  The dining area was dark with limited heaters, not enough to accommodate the number of guests visiting.  We dealt with being disappointed at not being able to see clear skies.  In addition we had uncomfortable accommodations.  For the price we were paying for the room this is unacceptable. The guide assigned to us did his best to show us the area given the weather conditions.  We had to request them for a closed vehicle.  But given the uncomfortable stay we had, the management of this lodge has a lot of issues to fix before it is considered an acceptable accommodation. I would not go back or recommend it...